Editing Cooperative (section)

==== Capital by members ====

{{see also|Capital (economics)}}
This is the main form of financing in cooperatives. Usually, workers cooperatives do not only socialize the labor force, but also a part of the economical wealth of each member, that is put in a pool together with the rest of contributions, and that constitutes the capital of the cooperative. Usually, future members have to socialize a certain amount of money to the cooperative before they can become formal members.<ref name=":10" />

The most common way to do it all at once before joining the cooperative, but other financing schemes have been proposed. For example, some cooperatives do not ask for an initial investment, but rather require workers to work for a certain period of time, while retaining a percentage of the wage, until the worker has paid all the requirements and can become a formal member of the cooperative.<ref name=":10" />

Usually, when the worker decides to leave the cooperative, all the money invested will be returned to the worker.

The amount required will vary depending on a lot of factors, such as for example:<ref name=":10" />
* The type of cooperative: if it is a big industrial cooperative, the amount required will probably be higher than for a small services cooperative.
* The current budget of the cooperative: if a cooperative is already economically well established, probably the requirements will be lower. However, if the cooperative is still young and still requires a lot of investments, the initial requirement will be higher.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Duffy |first1=Michael |last2=Shi |first2=Chenxia |date=2023 |title=The Curious Case of Stakeholder Ownership: Theoretical Insights into the Niche Persistence of the Cooperative and Mutual Form Across Advanced Economies |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4359271 |journal=SSRN Electronic Journal |doi=10.2139/ssrn.4359271 |s2cid=257010940 |issn=1556-5068}}</ref>